I've been thinking! Some might say, "Uh-oh!" Others might say, "How novel!" I say, "It's about time!"
I like Sarah Palin. There - I've said it. I like Sarah Palin. I think she's bright, compassionate, and capable. Tina Fey and all of the governor's detractors aside, I think she's able to handle the vice-presidency. Al Gore did it.
What has happened since Radovan Karadzic was arrested and was scheduled to appear before the international war crimes tribunal? How about his buddy General Ratko Mladic? These guys roamed around eastern Europe for over a decade after they had been identified for arrest for their role in the Bosnian ethnic cleansing? Why was that allowed to happen? Why have they not now been brought to trial? Why has that been allowed to happen?
In the 1940's we had leaders like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dean Acheson, and George C. Marshall among so many others. Excepting Truman, they led by nobless oblige. Wealthy, they served out of a sense of obligation. Either wealthy by birth or wealthy by industriousness, they turned from comfort to government to offer their services. Today the practice is the opposite. Government workers first serve in an administration and then leave in order to act as lobbyists, make substantial money, and to live in comfort. Could it be that our present-day patricians choose not to participate in governmental leadership in order to avoid undue public scrutiny and undue publicity placing their families into glass houses?
Why was Olympic drug cheater Marion Jones allowed to leave jail early from her already-lenient six month sentence? She cried and lied for years before she was finally caught and convicted. I had always presumed her innocent. Silly me! Feeling foolish, I vindictively want her to serve her full time. Who let her out? The president of the USA Track and Field Association wrote to President Bush asking that she not be let out of Jail. "I have a moral and practical duty to make the case (against her request for early release)" Who let her out?
Why is it that in our eyes Israel can never do wrong? They are in huge part the reason that we are having so much trouble with Arab nations and, by extension, Al Queida. I do believe that they need our overall protection, but not a rubber-stamped OK for all of their actions. Read Jimmy Carter's book on the Middle East and their building of the wall that sections off huge chunks of Palestine separating neighbor from neighbor and family from family. See who you think is responsible for much of the tension in that area of the world.
On a final, more mellow note, Italy's agricultural minister announced that some of that country's finest wines will receive permission to be sold in boxes. Boxed American wines have an image problem somewhat similar to "white lightning". However, wine in boxes makes a lot of sense. It not only last longer, but decreasing transportation costs from the west coast to the east coast not only benefits the economy, but it also benefits the environment. Figuring the saving on greenhouse gasses, transporting the lighter weight boxes would save the equivalent of taking 400,00 cars off the road. That's each year! Bottles are romantic. Packages are practical.
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